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Another bad ball joint after 43,000 miles
- Thread starter timk225
- Start date
heavyD
Member
That noise totally went away from mine when I got coilovers installed. I did ask the shop to re-torque all the suspension fasteners and they noted a few were out of torque spec so I don't know if it was related to loose fasteners or the factory spring/strut.
Pommie
Member
android04
Active Member
My model 3 is over 5 years old and I'm currently at over 114,000 miles. My left FUCA experienced the creaky ball joint at around 40,000 miles and Tesla replaced just that one under warranty. I knew I wanted to replace them with the Meyle HD aftermarket FUCAs as soon as I heard about them last year.
I ordered the upgraded Meyle HD front upper control arms from Evannex and finally had a chance to put them in yesterday. They are about 1.5 times lighter than the stock ones and have a 4 year warranty.
I opened up the seal on the ball joints to my old ones and they obviously had water mixed in with the grease because it was a nasty-looking whitish color. They did not creak though because I had installed some grease zerks some years back and had added grease about once a year. I forgot to take a picture of the nasty grease in the old ball joint before I threw away the OEM FUCAs.
The replacement wasn't too bad, but you definitely want to completely remove the plastic wheel liner or you will struggle with taking the FUCA bolts out. The Tesla service manual gives you directions on how to do the replacement, asking with tools you need and torques for the nuts and bolts. The annual subscription to the service manual is free if you own a Tesla.
I ordered the upgraded Meyle HD front upper control arms from Evannex and finally had a chance to put them in yesterday. They are about 1.5 times lighter than the stock ones and have a 4 year warranty.
I opened up the seal on the ball joints to my old ones and they obviously had water mixed in with the grease because it was a nasty-looking whitish color. They did not creak though because I had installed some grease zerks some years back and had added grease about once a year. I forgot to take a picture of the nasty grease in the old ball joint before I threw away the OEM FUCAs.
The replacement wasn't too bad, but you definitely want to completely remove the plastic wheel liner or you will struggle with taking the FUCA bolts out. The Tesla service manual gives you directions on how to do the replacement, asking with tools you need and torques for the nuts and bolts. The annual subscription to the service manual is free if you own a Tesla.
android04
Active Member
That attachment is a solid piece of metal, and I do believe it is to reduce NVH. I kind of remember Sandy Munro of Munro and Associates talking about it when they did the teardown of the Model 3.
I've known about the flaws that allows the grease to get washed out of the left side upper ball joint, but the right side one seemed to be less of an issue.
Early this year I finally got a big syringe (about 3/4" thick and 3 inches long) and started regreasing the left side upper ball joint. I use a nail to poke a hole in the boot, way down in the folds of the rubber, and put 3 syringes of grease in, (red auto parts store synthetic grease, packed into the syringe by hand) and push the boot to work the grease around to the back side to keep it in there more.
That seems to work, I've regreased the left side upper ball joint twice this year. Sure beats paying for a new part with the same flaws. I drive at a rate of around 25K miles per year.
But finally, last week I began hearing the creaky sound again, I knew it wasn't coming from the left front. Wasn't sure if it was the right front or somewhere in the rear of the car.
So before I started messing around in the rear of the car, I did the right front ball joint, and that seems to have fixed the issue.
Once you go poking holes in ball joint boots, you have to regrease them every 4-6 months, but that beats paying for new parts with the same flaws. I did that once and will never do it again. My 3 will soon be off warranty when I touch 120K miles, and I'm sure Tesla will then try to charge me for everything they can. Not gonna happen, I have many years of low budget repair automotive experience.
Are there any links to a how-to showing what to do and where to drill to install a grease fitting in the front upper A arm ball joints?
Early this year I finally got a big syringe (about 3/4" thick and 3 inches long) and started regreasing the left side upper ball joint. I use a nail to poke a hole in the boot, way down in the folds of the rubber, and put 3 syringes of grease in, (red auto parts store synthetic grease, packed into the syringe by hand) and push the boot to work the grease around to the back side to keep it in there more.
That seems to work, I've regreased the left side upper ball joint twice this year. Sure beats paying for a new part with the same flaws. I drive at a rate of around 25K miles per year.
But finally, last week I began hearing the creaky sound again, I knew it wasn't coming from the left front. Wasn't sure if it was the right front or somewhere in the rear of the car.
So before I started messing around in the rear of the car, I did the right front ball joint, and that seems to have fixed the issue.
Once you go poking holes in ball joint boots, you have to regrease them every 4-6 months, but that beats paying for new parts with the same flaws. I did that once and will never do it again. My 3 will soon be off warranty when I touch 120K miles, and I'm sure Tesla will then try to charge me for everything they can. Not gonna happen, I have many years of low budget repair automotive experience.
Are there any links to a how-to showing what to do and where to drill to install a grease fitting in the front upper A arm ball joints?
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